Tag: Democrats

Earlier this week, news hit the airwaves that President Trump had reached a deal with the Democratic leadership in Congress dealing with the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and immigration reform. The President met with leaders from both parties this week and agreed to a plan set out by the Democrats on DACA, much to the chagrin of the Republicans.

As you may recall, President Trump rescinded the executive order from former President Obama, which instituted DACA without the approval of Congress. Many people felt this action to not be inconjunction with the scope of executive orders, but the policy stood until this past month when President Trump rescinded it, with a 6 month waiting period to allow Congress time to pass a bill and do this the right way.

Republican leaders in Congress are outraged that the Republican president would make a deal with Democrats. The problem here is that America has come to a point that compromise and listening to different viewpoints is almost a dirty word. Yes, politics is dirty and messy, but it wasn’t so long ago that you would see this type of compromise all the time between two parties. One party gets one thing that they want, the other party gets something else.

Lately, you haven’t seen compromise in the government. It’s been very one sided to the ruling party. Whether that is a lack of willingness on the ruling party, or a lack of willingness on the minority party, I’ll let you be the judge, but there has not been much compromise as of late.

This is how we make government work… we compromise. The Republicans need to give some concessions to the Democrats on immigration to get their support, but the Democrats need to give concessions to the Republicans as well. This will require some work and some squelching of egos. In the words of the Rolling Stones, “You can’t always get what you want.”

So, what would a bipartisan bill on immigration look like? Well, there have been several bills that have been presented in recent years, most notably in 2013 with the “gang of eight” bill that was drafted by 4 Democrats and 4 Republicans. This bill provided a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the US and other safeguards and improvements on the immigration system. It was passed with a supermajority in the Senate, but House Speaker John Boehner refused to take it to the floor of the House and effectively killed the bill at the end of the 113th Congress.

Currently, President Trump wants funding for a wall or fence along the US and Mexico. Democrats want DACA re-instated permanently, along with other policies such as amnesty. Congress and the President must agree to allow some of the Democrats policies into the bill as well as some of the Republicans policies. This is the only way that a good, fair and solid bill would be passed and be able to stand the test of time. The Republicans don’t want to take a page out of the Obama days and force their own immigration reform down everyones throats because as soon as they lose their majority, the Democrats will come knocking to overturn the legislation (think Obamacare).

So, is Trump wrong for meeting with and agreeing to some terms with Democrats? Absolutely not. It’s compromise folks. Jump on board with it and see how this and many other plans can continue to make America great.

Yesterday morning, Republican lawmakers were targeted in an attack while playing softball just outside of Washington, D.C. According to eye witnesses, the assailant (who will remain nameless…more on that below) asked a congressman who was getting in his car, “Is this the Democrats or the Republicans practice?” 3 minutes later, shots rang out. Several members of Congress as well as staff were hurt or wounded, but as of now, all are expected to fully recover.

This man blatantly targeted Republican members of Congress. Interestingly enough, this man also supported and campaigned for Socialist Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primaries until Hillary Clinton won the nomination. He later pushed for Senator Sanders to run on the Green Party ticket because he believed that Hillary was a closet Republican. Review of his social media pages showed that he was an extremely adamant supporter of Bernie Sanders and many of his posts could be read by some as hostile on the verge of violent towards President Trump and the GOP.

Now, obviously Bernie Sanders is not directly implicated in this act of domestic terrorism, but he carries partial blame. Bernie’s rhetoric since election night has been of resisting, taking this to the streets and even going as far as saying that President Trump is “perhaps the worst and most dangerous president in the history of our country.” This kind of rhetoric is dangerous to some of the ears that hear it and interpret it with different intentions. The same went for President Trump, when he was running for the office last year. While the meaning of public official’s words might not intend harm, they need to consider their constituency when choosing their words and phrasing.

In the opening paragraph, I mentioned that I would not use the assailant’s name. I believe this is a good policy that would do well in the mainstream media. While I can’t speak to this individual’s motivation, many people who commit acts of mass terror are in it for their 15 minutes of fame. Whether it is to see their name in the news, or to know they will not quickly be forgotten, many know that it will only be a short while before they become a common household name. For some, this is the ultimate goal because they have been ignored most of their life and feel like they have nothing to contribute anymore. Taking away their inevitable notoriety is a first step towards making them think twice before they commit an act of terror.

Finally, while this wasn’t a known terrorist group like ISIS or the Taliban that committed these acts, this is a case of domestic terrorism. This man committed these acts of violence against his own people of his own country and he directed it to an individual group of people.

The decision makers in the Democratic Party need to tone down their rhetoric because they are inciting way too much violence in this country. Day after day, more and more violence is directed towards the right side of the aisle by those on the left. Groups like Antifa, and other hard left groups are promoting resistance at all costs and this is not being condemned by the Democratic Party. If this trend continues, this will become the new face of the DNC and there will not be any more peace in Washington.

Prayers go out to Congressman Scalise and all those who were injured in the awful attack Wednesday morning.

Let’s talk about Comey. If you have been in a box for the last 24 hours or so, you may not have heard that the FBI director, James Comey, has received the loudest “You’re Fired” from President Trump. In a short letter to Director Comey, President Trump stated that he was following the recommendation of the Justice Department to terminate his tenure at the nation’s top law enforcement post.

The announcement was followed with all kinds of reactions from the political world. Some praised the action as a long time coming, while others saw it as a cover up for current FBI investigations.

From what I have seen, the responses from politicians and the media to the ouster, depends largely upon what side of the aisle that your political ideations lay. Most Republicans and the right leaning media have praised the move in the last 24 hours. Most Democrats and the left leaning media have condemned it. The interesting part of all of this is that at one point or another, both groups have been upset with how the FBI has conducted itself over the past year or so.

It was only 6 months ago that the Democrats were up in arms with Director Comey as he sent a letter to Congress announcing that the FBI was reopening it’s investigation into the email scandal that has surrounded Hillary Clinton. Democrats were furious at this announcement because it hurt the candidacy of Secretary Clinton. Mrs. Clinton herself has pointed the finger at the FBI and the Russians as the reason she lost (never mind the fact that she ran the worst presidential campaign in modern history).

Rewind 10 months from today and you will find the Republicans angry with Director Comey as he admitted that Secretary Clinton had mishandled classified information on her private email server, but neglected to recommend charges because he didn’t feel like she intended to violate the law. Republicans argued that the law never allows for intent to be part of the process.

So, over the last year, both Democrat and Republicans have been upset with the FBI Director and many of them have called for his removal from office, at least until the present day, when it actually happened. The Democrats are up in arms now with accusations against the President that he fired Director Comey, because he wants to cover up any connection his campaign had with Russia. The lack of any proof to this allegation notwithstanding, President Trump would have to fire a multitude of FBI agents to have any chance at covering up a collusion or conspiracy.

The FBI Director may have been involved in investigations relating to Russian hacking and election tampering, but he was by no means the only person involved. There would be several layers of agents who would have been leading the investigation, compiling reports and presenting them to the Director. Removing and replacing the Director would not tamper with any ongoing investigations.

What this all boils down to is that a moderately unpopular FBI Director has been relieved from his duties and will be replaced by someone of the Presidents choosing. The next question is “who will that replacement be?” Many have weighed in on the issue with who they think will be the favorite, but a White House spokesperson said today that the replacement will be non-partisan, in hopes to bring back some integrity to the Bureau.

Whoever the new FBI Director ends up being, hopefully they can settle parts of the great divide that continues to separate our nation between the left and right.

The United States (on both sides) has become too complacent with the status quo. You may be saying, “Whoa, wait a minute; where have you been? Don’t you see the changes happening?” Yes, yes I do, and if the American people don’t step up and do something about these changes that challenge our way of life, freedom, and happiness we will lose these liberties. The nation is divided into two factions (I know you feel it too). Half of the nation is actively trying to change the nation while the other half seems to be avoiding confrontation. This has lead us down the wrong road and has caused us to find ourselves in a corner. Due to the lack of confrontation in the past decade, any action taken on the side of freedom is immediately deemed an attack on the new United States. Thus, we are weary of change and more comfortable with maintaining the status quo whether we agree with it or not. I paraphrase Roy T Bennett when I say, “Change begins at the end of your comfort zone.” Our friends on the left have safe spaces and we have comfort zones. Both are detrimental to the American way of life. We must get out of our comfort zones and confront the issues head on. In recent months, I have noticed a push in the right direction (pun intended) and hope to see some continued change or push. Personally, I hope things continue to get more uncomfortable, because that means we’re doing something right! Some of you may not want the nation to change and think that the nation is in a great spot. I beg to differ. We have currently turned our backs on many of the very freedoms and liberties that were given to us by our founding fathers. I can hear it now “No we haven’t!” Yes we have, by letting these changes happen! Trump’s election was accredited to the “silent majority”. THAT’S US and illustrates my point! We have been silent! We have been comfortable! In the army, I learned to sleep anywhere. I also learned that the best way to avoid falling asleep was to make yourself uncomfortable. It’s time to WAKE UP!